It looked good, the shandy, as it stood on the counter in its slender glass.

The glass tapers in the middle.

This created the effect that looked like it was intended at first glance.

The drink was darker at the top.

At about mid-height, as the glass tapers, it changes color.

The shandy got lighter as it went down, at the bottom of the glass it was as clear as lemonade.

Jan Schiefenhoevel

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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As chic as the whole thing looked, it wasn't well mixed.

After all, the shandy is a mixed drink, and that's why the beer and lemonade really have to mix and shouldn't stand separately on top of each other in the glass.

First the lighter, then the heavier

The landlady responsible for the mixture had poured the glass like most restaurateurs: first the soda, then the beer.

The reason: the drink can be poured faster, it foams less.

However, this is not correct, because the ingredients mix badly in this way.

Now beer and everything that has to do with it is a cultural asset in Bavaria.

The question of the correct pouring of a shandy is taken so seriously there that even the Bavarian consumer center deals with it.

And she advises putting the beer in the glass first and then the lemonade on top.

The beer has a lower density due to its alcohol content, the soda with its sugar is heavier.

When the light is at the bottom and the heavy is at the top, everything blends naturally and the drink gets a consistent color and quality from top to bottom.

This is how it tastes all year round, after a hike through the autumn forest or in the evening of a day of skiing on a winter holiday.

This order – first the lighter, then the heavier – also applies to other self-mixed drinks, such as apple spritzer.

The godchild has understood this for a long time.

From an early age, the girl has insisted that the soda be poured first and then the juice.

"It doesn't taste good otherwise," they always said.

The child is right.

Apple juice, with its sugar and other ingredients, is heavier than mineral water, sinks when poured, and then mixes satisfactorily with the water.